Throughout training camp and the start to the season, John Tortorella has talked about how the most important thing for his team will be rest and recovery due to the condensed schedule. Tortorella has also spoken about how a lot of what the Rangers are teaching in terms of their team concept is coming in the film room and not on the ice.

Yesterday though, Tortorella spoke to the media, including SNY, about how the Rangers are behind with the pace of the game and their mindset.

He says that one way to combat that and improve is to spend more time on the ice at practice.

Tortorella then used a question about Carl Hagelin and Derek Stepan to make the point of how being on the ice more has helped them lead the Rangers, “they are the guys on the ice the most. They haven’t missed any optionals, they are here pre-game and they seem to be on the puck. They are quicker. Hags is a really good skater, I wouldn’t say that Step is but he has turned his game up and he is quick. He is quicker than some guys who are much better skaters than he is. It’s the pace of the game. I just wanna stay on top of us playing with speed and pace and getting our conditioning that way.”